Can You Be Deceived?

Matthew 24:4  -  Jesus answered, “Watch out that no one deceives you.”

These last several weeks I have been doing a lot of reading and what I found was many people who were expressing their opinions about what the Bible says, but not backing it up with Biblical quotes.  Some were expressing confusion and opinion and this is fine, as long as no one accepts what they say as fact.  Some were openly saying that the Bible or Jesus says this or that without citing chapter and verse where it is said.  Without chapter and verse there is no way of knowing what was actually said.  I also found some who were giving chapter and verse, but the quote was not correct because they were using a translation that did not come directly from the original Greek.  With all this going on it becomes very easy to be deceived.  So what can we do about all this?

The answer is easy and difficult at the same time.  We must learn all we can about God, Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity.  We are told that if we ask God for his help in gaining this knowledge that he will help us.  James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”  If we do not have a thorough knowledge of what the Bible says, it becomes very easy for someone to deceive us and Jesus clearly said in Matthew 24:4, “Watch out that no one deceives you.”

My suggestion is that we all need to read our Bibles daily.  Make sure that you have a translation that comes directly from the original Greek and Hebrew.  Also stay active in Bible Studies.  There are many that can be done at church with others and at home alone or with family members.  Finally, a pursuit of reading and writing Biblical Greek and Hebrew would be a worthwhile goal to reach for.  After all, if you cannot go to the source, how can you be sure you are not being deceived?  Always seek Jesus first.